Track: That Jones girl again

By EUGENE BINGHAM

Could the second gold medal ever be as good as the first?

By the reaction of Marion Jones after her massacre of the Olympic 200m field last night, it seemed not.

On Saturday, she threw her arms out wide and jumped for joy.

On Thursday night, after demolishing the 200m field in 21.84s, the American track queen simply threw her head up at the sky.

Was it that Jones has been tarnished by the turmoil drowning her alleged drug cheat of a husband, shot putter C.J. Hunter?

Surely she is not getting bored by winning gold yet? That's only two and she wants five.

Since she won her first gold in equally dominant fashion over 100m, Jones has been distracted by the revelation that Hunter had tested positive for steroids four times.

He even dragged her along to a press conference where he tearfully protested his innocence.

There was no emotion on the track last night though. Jones was downright clinical. Her performance was so dominant, she outshone the men's race, won by Greek Konstantinos Kenteris in 20.09s.

Crouched on the start-line, Jones shook away everything that had weighed her down this week and took off .

If her pre-Olympic pledge is kept, there will be three more golden finishes - the long jump, 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

In her wake last night were Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas in a personal best 22.27s, and bronze medallist Susanthika Jayasinghe, of Sri Lanka.

She even left behind Australia's Olympic darling, 400m winner Cathy Freeman, who finished seventh.

Still, like everyone else in the race, Freeman ran a season's fastest time.

The presence of that Jones girl had pushed everyone to their best. Jones had earlier cantered home in her semifinal, winning in 22.40s.

Tonight, she faces the long-jump, considered the event she is least likely to nail. Her technique is not good and she will be pushing it to beat in-form former gold medallist Heike Drechsler, of Germany and Italy's Fiona May, the Atlanta silver medallist.